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Make Your AR15 Rifle Shoot Better
By Steve Felgenhauer

Wilson Combat UT-15 Tactical Carbine - Guaranteed 1 MOA at 100 yards.

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Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- Think your AR can’t be as accurate as the high end custom AR above? Think again.

The AR or AR15 rifle is plenty accurate. Oh, yours isn’t? Maybe it’s time to look at some options to make your rifle the envy of the rifle range.

Like all rifles the AR is made up of components; each playing a role in its accuracy.

Though shooting style may differ from shooter to shooter, for example, those who participate in service rifle matches have different requirements from an AR used for long range hunting. However, high quality components are crucial for both top scores or long range hunting success.

Whether you are building a black rifle from parts or customizing your existing AR rifle to better suit your shooting style, here’s a rundown of what works for me and a suggestion where to spend your hard earned dollars to maximize black rifle accuracy.

The barrel: the heart of an accurate rifle.
The accuracy of any rifle begins and ends with its barrel. This should be the greatest single expenditure when looking to wring the most from your AR. Many rifle manufacturers use decent barrels capable of good accuracy. If your rifle isn’t accurate enough for your liking, replace the barrel first and choose a reputable barrel maker. Shilen Rifles makes one of the finest. Their drop-in barrel is available complete with matching bolt chambered, headspaced and ready for installation. Their barrels are available in many contours. Don’t skimp on a barrel.

The process of installing an aftermarket barrel is usually combined with installation of free float tubes. If you are utilizing a drop-in barrel, the barrel simply fits into the receiver and is held in place by the barrel nut. The nut must be aligned so that the gas tube clears the holes in the nut. Most free float tubes then screw onto the barrel nut.

If you would like to see this and other procedures, go to Brownell’s website. It has one of the most comprehensive video collections available on building an AR Rifle. www.brownells.com

Changing An AR-15 Barrel Video

Free Float Tubes
Any kind of pressure put on a rifle barrel will cause the impact of the bullet to shift. For this reason, I like free float tubes on my AR. If building an AR with some sort of attachment for a bipod, mount it on the free float tube so it makes no contact with the barrel whatsoever to include the gas block.

Free float tubes can be installed on CMP rifles by removing the heat shields from the issued hand guards then reinstalling the hand guards over them. Most shooters use a second set dedicated to this use as the original hand guards do need to be modified.

Free Float Tubes come in an array of styles and materials and are a personal preference AR accessory.

Upper and Lower Receiver
The upper and lower receivers for the AR- 15 are Mil- Spec. In theory, the parts are interchangeable. The AR- Style .308 is not, but I foresee one or two designs taking the lead and becoming the “standard”.

The upper and lower receivers are simply nothing more than housings to keep the guts of the rifle from flying apart. The upper holds the barrel in place and houses the bolt carrier. The lower houses the hammer and trigger while holding the buttstock and pistol grip in place.

J P Enterprises AR-15 Tensioning Pin

Though many shooters feel the slop between the upper and lower receiver robs accuracy, I have yet to experience this. But, the slop rattle can be quite aggravating and distracting. If the rattling halves bother you, an Accu-wedge or JP Tension Pin can remove this slop. I prefer glassing the two halves. To do this, a minimum of tools will be needed:

• Bedding Compound – I like Brownell’s Acraglas Gel, 4 ounce kit – This will provide more than enough bedding compound to glass an AR and still have plenty to bed a bolt action rifle or two. This kit comes with everything you will need to do a professional-looking job. One word of caution, the release agent included in the kit prevents the two pieces from sticking together. It is imperative to use this release agent according to the directions.
• Degreasing Agent – I use denatured alcohol.
• Shim stock – The thickness of the shim depends on the desired tightness. I prefer a .005 of an inch thick shim stock (the thickness of two sheets of typing paper) though many match gun builders use a shim up to .012 of an inch thick.

Degrease the lower receiver where the lug from the upper fits into it. Apply the release agent to the upper receiver and the rear takedown pin. I also put a small piece of clay in the hole in the lug. The pin will not be pushed all the way through but will fill up with the Acraglas; the clay prevents this.

Apply a small amount of glass in the pocket of the lower receiver where the lug will sit. To get good adherence, I will occasionally rough up the receiver with a Dremel tool and a small bur and degrease it again. Once the glass is applied in the pocket, put the shim on the top of the lower receiver. Slowly close the two halves. I put the shim just behind the ejection port; the two halves should not close. Apply pressure to the upper receiver; enough so you can start the takedown pin in the lug. Do not push the pin all the way through.

The deed is now done. All that is left to do is clean up any glass that runs out and set aside, preferably in a horizontal position until the glass sets up. Once the glass is set up, remove pins and clean up all residue. The rifle is then ready to reassemble and shoot and viola, no more rattle.

The only specialized feature on an upper receiver other than the cool factor is matching it to your shooting style. If you are a Civilian Marksman Program (CMP) shooter, you will need to choose an upper that will accept rear sights, like the A2 upper. For a long range shooter or hunter who plans on mounting optics, a flat top or optic-friendly high rise upper is in order. I prefer the high rise to a standard flat top. I want to keep my optics as close to the receiver and bore as possible instead of using ultra high scope rings.

Don’t get too worked up over the upper and lower receivers and don’t overspend here.

JP EZ Trigger

The Trigger
The standard issue trigger isn’t conducive to accuracy unless you are familiar with a two stage trigger. I like a crisp, single stage trigger that breaks at 3- 3½ pounds. The JP EZ trigger is one of my favorites and as its name implies is rather easy to install. For service rifle shooters who are restricted to a 4 ½ pound trigger pull, a CMP set up is available. This is achieved by springs rather than sear and trigger engagements. This is one area in which I would not cut corners.

The installation is better watched than explained. JP Rifles has a wonderful video of the trigger installation and set up on their website. Go to www.jprifles.com/1.4.8.1_ezt.php to watch the video of the complete installation. Trigger control is important, but again it is a luxury and will be priced accordingly.

Stock
Often looked upon as an oversight, a stock is important to long range shooting. A consistent stock weld is imperative to consistent success when shooting long range. The Magpul Precision Rifle/Sniper stock is the choice for serious shooters. It is fully adjustable both for length and height and facilitates optic mounted ARs. These are premium made stocks and priced as such. A less expensive option is the standard A2 style buttstock and an aftermarket cheek piece to attach to it. While not high speed, it performs the same task and is a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

Magpul Precision Sniper Rifle Stock

Optics
Optics is a matter of opinion. Red dots are fine for the new 3 gun shoots and the sort, but once the shot ranges over 400 yards, a traditional scope complete with a range-finding type reticle is the choice of long range shooters. Many shooters like the Mil – Dot reticle, however, I find the distance between the dots too extreme for shots over 500 yards. Nikon’s Bullet Drop Compensator (BDC) used in tandem with their Spot On software program makes shooting long range child’s play. Purchase the best optics you can afford and learn how to use them.

Getting the most out of an AR isn’t difficult, but does take some planning. Determining your intention and expectations for the rifle is important. Can an AR keep up with a bench rest target rifle? Probably not, but it was never designed to do so. The bolt action rifle as we know it has a big head start on the relative newcomer, the Modern Sporting Rifle.

AR variations have already taken the rifle to heights even Stoner could have not imagined and the best is yet to come.

About Steve Felgenhauer:
Steve Felgenhauer is an up and coming freelance writer that focuses on writing about all things firearms – from product reviews to hunting and everything in between. Steve is a frequent contributor to AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.  You can read more about gun writer Steve Felgenhauer on the following page.

Filed under: Competitive Shooting News, Featured Articles, Firearm News, Gun Gear by Ammoland 2 Comments »

Roy Hill – AmmoLand Outdoor Writer Biography Series

Once, he got paid real, actual money to go duck hunting and that experience planted a seed that would eventually sprout into a loco weed that would prove harder to kill than Kudzu.

Hi, I am Roy Hill and I am a Writer...

USA- -(Ammoland.com)- Roy Hill learned to shoot at the age of eight when he got a Daisy BB gun for Christmas, only it wasn’t a Red Ryder, and certainly didn’t have a compass in the stock.

He never once shot it out with Black Bart or his gang of outlaws. Miraculously, he still has both his eyes, although he does need glasses now.

That Christmas BB gun eventually led him to compete in the 4-H BB-gun program, and while “B” does rhyme with both “T” and “P,” it led to neither trouble nor pool, and he never got anywhere near River City. Instead, the BB-gun competition led him to shoot a.22 Anschutz rifle for the Upper Arkansas River Valley 4-H Shooting Sports team, and he won a pair of state championships during high school. When he wasn’t shooting a lot, Roy both played high school football and marched in the high school band, and eventually ended up a tuba player for the University of Arkansas Marching Razorbacks. But he didn’t let that turn of events hold him back for long.

Because he still loved to shoot guns, he finagled a way to join the University of Arkansas Pershing Rifles air rifle team as a non-ROTC member. Despite the band and the rifle team, and a lot of other things he’d rather not talk about, he somehow managed to earn two degrees in English, first a BA cum laude, and then a Masters Degree in English and American Literature.

Roy Was Plagued By The Unseemly Habit Of Writing
All this time, Roy was plagued by the unseemly habit of writing, which he first picked up in grade school when he was asked to produce copy for what passed as the Waldron Elementary school newspaper. His equally suspect habit of reading stuff seemed only to feed his habit of writing stuff, and the confluence of the two is probably what led him down that dark road to perdition known as “majoring in English.”

After his time in the college marching band ended, Roy wanted another way to get into Razorback football games for free, so he decided to masquerade as a sports writer for the Arkansas Traveler, the student newspaper at the university. While his plan worked at first, he discovered, too late, that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was most certainly correct when he observed that journalism is a “habit worse than heroin.” Before long, Roy found himself far gone into the gonzo world of hacking sports copy for whatever newspaper would pay him even the smallest pittance.

It got so bad that he found himself attending junior high football games where he wasn’t related to any of the players, and then, worst of all, loitering around the sports desk at odd hours on nights and weekends.

Eventually, the cruel world of dank press boxes littered with old paper cups smelling of spat-out sunflower seeds sucked him in entirely, and he fell in as a full-time sports writer with the Benton County Daily Record in Bentonville, Arkansas. Oh, there were still the bright and happy times now and then. But mostly it was a never-ending grind of high school football and basketball, beef jerky and box scores, deadlines and the dreaded inverted-pyramid lead. On his really dark days, it was 140-mile round trips to write ten column inches about junior high girls’ volleyball, or chilly afternoons at early season baseball games that seemed to last for eons.

On other days it got really weird, freaky stuff, like a feature on a local dentist who doubled as a semi-pro water skier, or the ex-pro wrestler turned high school strength coach.

There was the humiliating day when he masterfully interviewed an NBA power forward at a basketball camp, only to discover when he returned to the newsroom that his tape recorder’s pause button had been on the whole time.

One Day He Went To Far
But one day, he pushed it too far. One day, he actually somehow conned his editor into paying him to go duck hunting in Kansas, with the excuse that he’d write a nice 16-column-inch piece about it, and take lots of pictures. And he pulled it off. He got paid real, actual money–got paid–to go duck hunting. Sure, he wrote the piece, and brought back the pictures to go with it. But that experience planted a seed that would eventually sprout into a loco weed that would prove harder to kill than Kudzu.

Before that weed could emerge, Roy would first have to spend two winters in Wyoming, where he figured to make more money teaching college students how to write than he made writing for the paper. So he moved far to the north and west. But not even hightailing it to Wyoming fixed his writing habit. There he wrote sports stories about strange new things like indoor rodeo and high school wrestling. But always, the time he got paid to go duck hunting haunted him out of the depths of his memory.

As he taught writing and wrote, he managed to accumulate many guns, and much ammo. A pair of Wyoming blizzard seasons convinced him to move back south, and he landed another English teaching job at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. But he just couldn’t kick his writing habit. He once again covered high school football games on the sly, and tried to excuse it as “staying current,” to help him better advise his new college’s student newspaper. When the football game stories proved to be not enough, he branched out into feature stories for the local daily, and even worked his way up to several book reviews for the statewide Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Possum Pistol Academy

In a desperate attempt to reduce his reliance on writing (which was now funding his rapidly-growing ammo habit) Roy dove deeper into his teaching and his guns. He started his own firearms training business, www.possumpistol.com, and convinced his boss at the college to let him start and coach a club air rifle team, a lot like the one Roy had competed on during his college days.

For a while, it all seemed to work. But then Roy got offers to write for a new internet publication www.thecitywire.com. That led to another part-time gig with the Ozarks Farm and Neighbor, where Roy found himself writing feature stories about cattle ranching and farming.

And the recollection of getting paid to hunt ducks and write about it all those years ago rose out of his foggy, ink-soaked mind, like a springing teal on the first day of the season.

That memory and his new writing gigs pushed Roy closer and closer to the edge, like a well-tuned 1911 trigger about to trip its sear. He decided to get paid to do more stuff he liked by using the same old excuse that he’d write about it. He drank homemade beer, and wrote about it. He hung out with people who did cool things and wrote about them. He even spent a week at Orange Beach, Alabama, during an oil spill and wrote about that.

His fevered imagination pushed him to find more and more ways to combine things he liked with his low, base habit of journalism, and inevitably, it pointed him back to the guns. Ever since he had hit that first BB-gun bullseye on that fateful Christmas morning all those years ago, it had always been about the guns. So he shot guns and wrote about it. He watched other people shoot guns, and wrote about that. He sought out more publications  where he could write more about shooting more guns. He even made strange videos of himself as he shot the guns that he wrote about.

Worst of all, he discovered Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), an organization that promised to help him write more about shooting more guns and that might even, some day, allow him to once again get paid to go duck hunting.  Of course with the same tired old excuse that he would write something about it afterwards.

Professional Outdoor Media Association

Roy has come to grips with his situation. He realizes who and what he is, and is willing to come to final acceptance and make peace with himself. He just hopes other people out there will recognize his peculiar circumstance, and provide him chances to fish, hunt and shoot guns, or even watch other people fish, hunt and shoot guns, and then write about it–that is, so long as he gets paid.

Remember, he’s not only addicted to writing, he’s got an expensive ammo habit to fund. And he remembers well the words of another good doctor, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who said “No man but a blockhead writes, except for money.” Roy’s got to find something useful to do with those English degrees, you know?

Editor Note: Roy Hill needs help, mostly professional, but if you’d like to become one of Roy’s writing enablers, email him at rhill@mynewroads.com.

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About AmmoLand’s Outdoor Writer Biography Series:
AmmoLand Shooting Sports News is doing all it can to support writers specializing in shooting sports, hunting and conservation. Our innovative publishing of active, working, writers biographies on our vast syndication network is one of our ways to give back and get writers noticed amongst all the chatter of blogs and social media. Today when everyone “thinks” they are a writer these folks “walk the talk” and are the cream of the crop!

If you are business and in need of support materials, a magazine in need freelance authors or a website or blog looking for fresh content then the writer above or the others found here may be just the hard working person you need to know. Contact one today and tell them Ammoland sent you.

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